


Surprise! It's Life

by reesespuffs1



Series: Dean is a Dad [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alive Mary Winchester, Fluff, Law Student Sam Winchester, No John Winchester, dean and sam parenting, emma is dean's kid, lydia is a bad mom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-23
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:29:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24869152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reesespuffs1/pseuds/reesespuffs1
Summary: After a casual night with his brother, Dean comes back to his apartment to a little bundle at their door.
Relationships: Jessica Moore/Sam Winchester (mentioned)
Series: Dean is a Dad [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799452
Comments: 8
Kudos: 25





	1. Chapter 1: Hi, Emma

“I’m drunk.”

Dean and Sam stood, stock still, staring at the basket and bag at their feet. There was an envelope with Dean’s name stuck to the basket.

“No… I definitely see it too. And I didn’t drink anything,” Sam stated pointedly.

Dean made a move as if to scratch his head, but his hand never made it.

“So that means...” He trailed off.

Sam cleared his throat. “Apparently.”

Sam snapped out of it first and knelt down to the basket, opening the letter that was stuck to the side.

“I’m a father.”

“That’s what the letter says,” Sam replied.

“Letter,” Dean repeated dumbly.

“Yeah.”

Dean coughed and stepped closer, coming down slowly from his shock.

“Uh, wha- what’s it say?”

Sam took a moment to read it before speaking out loud.

“Do you want me to read it straight, or just tell you the important s-”

“ _Sam_.”

Sam smirked, but quickly remembered what was actually happening.

“I’ll read it straight-” “Just read.”

“ _Dear Dean,_

_You and I didn’t spend much time together. We met at a bar twelve months ago, and had a great night. I remember you told me I was one of the only few ever to be brought to your apartment._

_Well, that wonderful night turned into this gorgeous baby girl that, under any other circumstance, I would have loved to take care of. Unfortunately, I no longer have a job, no longer have a home and I don’t have any of the means necessary to take care of my Emma. This is the hardest thing I have ever had to do, and I am so, so sorry I have to burden you with this._

_The way my life is turning out to be… It is no place for a three month old. In the bag is a packet of all of her legal documents, and a few things that I needed and had for the first couple of months._

_I’m really sorry I had to do this, Dean._

_With great sorrow, Lydia._ ”

“Lydia?” Dean blanched, grasping for straws.

“Yeah. Remember her?”

“Of course I remember her. She’s one of my top 5 one night stands. Possibly even top 3. She had a _baby_? That’s...”

Dean’s hands went up to his head and he messed up his hair. Sam hummed and tucked the letter in his jacket pocket. He stood and grabbed the handle.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going inside. She can’t stay outside anymore. It’s late. You can have your meltdown inside, come on.”

He took the huge basket and unlocked the door to the apartment, resting the baby on the dining table in the kitchen.

Outside, Dean was pacing in front of the open door, thinking furiously to himself. After a couple minutes of that, he stopped, took a huge breath, grabbed the bag and walked inside, closing the door.

He peered into the basket and stared at his kid.

“She’s kind of pretty.”

Sam looked up from where he was on his laptop, probably looking up these kind of laws.

“You done freaking out?”

“I'll never be done freaking out,” Dean said. Quietly though, because he had put down the bag and was reaching in to take the child out.

He lifted her out, and held her close and looked down into her face. She had been sleeping before, but, as he held her, her tiny eyes opened and Dean gasped.

“What?” Sam said, tensing up.

“Her eyes are green.”

“What?”

“Her eyes are-” He was cut off by a loud wail, and he startled.

His baby was crying. And he had almost no idea what to do. Except he did. He’d done it before with Sammy, so what was stopping him from acting?

It was _his_ kid. That was a _huge_ deal. _His_ girl, _his_ Emma.

So Dean took a breath and held Emma close, rocking her slightly and walking in a small circle. He was shushing her, and looking down at her face, and as he was pacing, she calmed down a bit, opening her eyes to look at the ones that looked like hers.

In a handful of moments, Emma was nodding off again, seemingly completely calm.

“Holy shit, dude,” Sam whispered.

“Come on, Sam. There’s a kid right here.” Dean glared at his brother, wrenching his gaze away from his daughter.

Sam was sitting open mouthed, confused at the turn of events.

“Why’re you so shocked. I practically raised you.”

“Yeah but...” Sam shrugged and stood again, putting his laptop on the coffee table in front of him.

He walked over and searched the bag.

“I’ve never seen you so-”

“Don’t finish that sentence,” Dean almost pleaded.

Sam nodded and took out a couple of documents from the bag.

“This is so messed up, man,” he said while skimming through the papers.

“It is. But it’s what’s happening, so… I guess we gotta get used to a kid being around.”

*

Getting used to it was much easier said than done. Emma didn’t stay down for very long after she had calmed. Half hour later, she woke up screaming her head off. Dean figured she was hungry, and although he knew it didn’t have the nutrients she needed, he made Sam warm some milk they’d had in the fridge and put it in a bottle Lydia had left in the bag.

It was late, so they’d have to get her other things in the morning. Meanwhile, he changed her into one of the three pampers they’d found and put her back down to rest.

He took the basket over to the couch and put it on the coffee table. He ended up sitting in front of it, and nearly bore a hole in Emma with how intensely he was staring at her.

“Dean… This is… This is big.”

“I know.”

“Like really big.”

“I know.”

“We’ll have to buy her clothes, food, we need more diapers, toys-”

“I _know_ , Sam. Can you relax for a bit? Please. We can write a list and get stuff in the morning. Just…” He tapered off. “OK?”

“Yeah. OK. Tomorrow."

There was a silence before Sam got up to head to his room. He stood there for a bit before asking, "Are you good?”

Dean nodded and rested his face in his hands.

This was big.

*

The next morning saw the Winchester brothers in the Impala with a screaming baby. They were on their way to the nearest Walmart to buy things for Emma. Sam was driving (very tensely), because it seemed as if Dean was the only one who could keep her quiet at all.

“Hey, baby girl,” Dean said, peeking into her basket. Emma just screamed at him.

Dean groaned and grabbed the bottle of warm milk.

“I hate that this is the best thing for you,” he stated offhandedly as he gave her the bottle.

He had stayed up all night watching her, and after he had gotten over the initial shock, he had compiled a list of items they needed to buy.

Sam sighed as she quieted down, and he finally let off the gas a little.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the store, and by that time, Emma had drifted off to sleep, and wasn’t making any more fuss. Thankfully.

“Where’s the baby section?”

Dean glanced at Sam and didn’t say anything as he put Emma’s basket into a trolley and led his brother to the pampers.

“We need these. Two giant packs. Grab them please?”

Sam nodded and put them in the trolley, and they moved on to the baby formula.

Dean stood for around ten minutes, trying to decide which brand to buy, while Sam stood behind him, researching the different kinds.

Eventually, they settled on one, and then went to buy everything else that Dean had put on the list: a crap ton of clothes, a tiny bath, a changing table, wipes, powder, a crib (that they planned to put together themselves) and a mattress, two pacifiers, a new bottle and a couple of toys that Dean grabbed on a whim.

They ended up with two carts and a basket, and took almost three hours to get the cashier. Emma had woken up twice, and both times, Dean entertained her until she slept again. They left the store with a full load and stopped at a drive thru to get lunch.

Emma was up again by the time they got to the apartment, and although she wasn’t screaming like before, she was whimpering and fussing and Dean’s heart nearly broke for her.

He talked Sam through the process of making her tea while he held her, rocking her like he did the night before. Once it was done, he gave her to Sam to feed, grateful that she kept quiet (after he told Sam to hold her tighter) then went to his room with the crib parts.

Half an hour later, the crib was half done, and Sam had come by when Emma fell asleep, cooing over how cute she was. Dean smiled widely and nodded.

After that, it didn’t take long for him to finish the crib, and he put the mattress in, fitting it with a sheet and a few stuffed toys. He took a step back and admired his work, before walking outside to check up on Sam.

Dean stopped in his tracks when he saw the scene: Sam had Emma in his arms and the laptop was open in front of him, but they were both asleep and Sam was snoring quietly.

Dean smiled to himself, and quickly got his phone out to take a picture. It was incredibly cute, and he could not let it go undocumented.

With his phone in his hand he realized something. He missed work.

He figured it would be fine, since he would classify this as an emergency, though he probably should have called in. Besides, he had known Bobby all his life. There was no chance that man wouldn’t understand.

So Dean turned to go back to his room, dialing the number.

“You better have a damn good reason why you missed a day, Winchester.”

Dean huffed out a laugh.

“Good afternoon, sir.”

“What’s your excuse, boy?”

“Can’t you just let me stall, Bobby?”

“Nope. Now spit it out. And it better be good.”

“I promise it’s valid.”

Bobby hummed and Dean took a breath.

“Last night Sam and I went out to grab a beer or two.”

“Really-”

“I’m not done. When we got back, there was a baby in front of our door, and the note taped to her said she was mine. Her mom abandoned her.”

There was a long moment of silence.

“Wow. That’s… I guess that is valid.”

Dean laughed humourlessly.

“Yup.”

More silence.

“Alright Dean. Do you need a couple days or something? You got a place for her to stay? A car shop ain’t a good place for a baby. How old is she anyways?”

Dean huffed out a laugh.

“She’s around three months? I gotta call Mom before I do anything else. There’s no other place I can take her at this short notice. And, thank you, Bobby. I’ll need at least two other days. Is that fine?”

“Of course, Dean. Take all the time you need, son.”

Dean grinned.

“Thanks, Bobby. You’re a dream.”

Bobby grunted and hung up.

Dean sighed and brought his phone down again. He dialed a different number, one he should have called immediately.

It rang until the other person picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hi Mom.”


	2. Chapter 2: Momma Winchester to the Rescue

“Dean?”

“Yup.”

“I haven’t heard from you in weeks.”

“Yeah. I know. I’m sorry.” He was scratching his neck sheepishly, even though she couldn’t see him.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yes. Yeah, mom. You don’t need to worry. Can’t a guy call his mother for no reason.”

He heard a scoff.

“Not when it’s one of my boys. I hear them once a month when they need someone to house sit.”

Dean laughed awkwardly.

“Good. ‘Cause we might have a crisis here, Mom.”

“What? You said I didn’t need to worry.”

“Yeah. Because I don’t want you to worry.”

“What is it, Dean?”

“Ha,” Dean dragged, trying once again to stall the conversation. He took a deep breath and collected his words.

“About a year ago,” he began, “I had sex with a girl. And apparently, she had a...kid.”

“What?”

“But. She… couldn’t take care of her, so she decided that instead asking to stay here with the child, she left her outside the door.”

“What?! That’s… Dean that’s... Wow.”

“Yeah. I was calling to ask if you could watch her during the days, since Sammy has school, and I have work.”

“Of course. I would love to. What’s the baby’s name.”

Dean sighed to himself. He didn’t know what he had expected, but he was glad his mother was okay with this.

“She’s Emma. Her certificate says she’s an... Orythia? But once Sammy works these laws out, I might change it to Winchester.”

Mary let out a dry laugh. “Orythia sounds so much cooler.”

Dean sighed, and there was a few moments of silence before either of them spoke again.

“I’m coming over, sweetie. I hope you don’t mind.”

Dean ran his hand through his hair.

“I suppose I don’t.”

“Great because I’m already in my car.”

“Mom!” He whined, but he still smiled.

“I’ll see in a bit, honey.”

She hung up, and tension Dean didn’t realize was there slipped away.

“Was that mom?”

Dean jumped at Sam’s sudden appearance.

“Sammy!”

Sam grinned widely. He had Emma in his arms, and the baby was wide awake, looking curiously everywhere her  little  head could turn.

Dean smiled and put out his hands to take her from his brother.

“To answer your question, yes. That was mom. And she’s on her way now.”

“Oh really. That’s great. Will she be looking after Emma when we can’t?”

“I think so. That's what she said. Can I have my daughter back now?” Dean put his hands out a bit more forcefully.

Sam rolled his eyes and handed Emma over.

“I’m going to message Jess.”

Dean nodded and looked down into Emma’s eyes.

She cooed after a while of them staring at each other, and Dean laughed in response.

“You said it, girl.”

As he said that, he heard a knock on the door.

“Your grandma’s here. Ready to meet her?” He asked as he walked out to where Sam was already at the door to let in their mom.

“Hiya Sam. Haven’t seen you in a while. Would it hurt to even message me ‘goodnight’?”

Sam cringed and returned Mary’s hug. Dean laughed at his brother bending down to for their mom.

Mary let go and looked in Dean’s direction, eyes honing in on the baby girl in his arms.

“Oh! Is this Emma? She’s gorgeous!” She rushed up to look into her face.

“Hello to you too, Mother.”

Mary smirked and patted Dean’s cheek.

“Yeah, yeah, Needy. Can I hold my grandchild now?”

Dean scoffed as Mary took Emma into her own arms.

“I love you, mother.”

“Hello, little Emma. Oh wow, she has your eyes.”

Dean ignored that his mother ignored him and grinned at what she said.

“Yeah. Ain’t she beautiful?”

“She is.”

Mary smiled sweetly down at the baby, and Emma gurgled up at her.

“I can’t believe this is happening.”

Dean huffed and sat on his bed. He ran a hand over the newly-built crib.

“Yeah. It’s gonna be crazy around here now,” he said with a sigh. He groaned.

“What am I gonna do, mom? This is so much.”

“I know, sweetie. But you’ll be fine. You’ll do so well. You’ve been through much harder situations.”

Dean smiled at her and nodded. He looked down at Emma and his expression softened.

“Yeah, you’re right. It won’t be that bad.”

*

It may not have been terrible, but waking up at 3 in the morning because your daughter wouldn’t stop crying was... an adjustment, at least.

Dean got up quickly and immediately checked to see if Emma was hungry. She was not, and in fact she threw up on Dean after he tried to feed her.

When feeding her didn’t work, he took her to the changing table and changed her diaper. After that, she calmed down a little and Dean took her on a walk around the apartment. Eventually, Emma fell asleep around 5 and Dean was exhausted.

He took a nap for about an hour, and when he woke up he immediately called his mother, and complained about his night.

Mary just laughed at him.


	3. Chapter 3: Just Another Winchester

“Hey, Dean?”

“Sam?”

“Did you give Emma your phone?”

Dean rushed into the bedroom.

“How did she get that? I could have sworn I put it on my dresser.”

Sam raised an eyebrow.

“Your dresser. The one that’s right next to the crib?”

Dean groaned and hung his head.

“Yeah, I guess. Damn.”

Sam snickered and pulled the phone from his niece.

“Have you talked to the landlord about this yet?”

“Oh shit. Yeah. I’ll do that right now.”

Sam shook his head as he watched Dean walk out with the phone he just took from his brother.

He sat on Dean’s bed and took his laptop to continue his research. So far all he has is that Lydia definitely committed a crime. Child abandonment. However, the consequences and how to follow through were slipping through his fingers.

He figured Dean wouldn’t want to make a huge deal about this, since Dean was a behind-the-scenes kind of dude. But honestly, Sam thought they needed to take action to make Dean Emma’s only legal guardian and taking Lydia’s parental rights.

This whole situation put bile in Sam’s throat, but he tried to be good for his brother by doing everything he could.

Sam groaned and kept looking.

*

After two weeks, the Winchesters had gotten their routine down.

Every weekday Dean would wake up at 3 in the morning to deal with Emma, put her down at 4 and sleep for about an hour and a half, when he had to wake up for work. He’d leave her with Sam at 7 for two hours, when the man had to go to college. Sam would drop Emma to their mom’s where she’d stay the entire day, until her dad picked her back up at 8pm to go home.

On weekends, Mary would come over to spend Saturday and Sunday with the whole family, and cook the boys food, since they would buy take out and fast food during the week.

Sam would keep searching for things on Child Abandonment, and Dean would work hard at the shop, and Mary would be entertaining Emma, or sometimes they would go out and take a walk or visit a store.

All in all, the Winchesters were doing fine.

Until Sam finally made a break through.

“I think we can file to get Lydia’s parental rights terminated.”

“What?”

Dean sat up, attention fully on Sam with Emma in his lap.

“Yeah. That would get a summons sent to her, and she more than likely won’t show, so, it would work in your favour. Especially since your name is on Emma’s birth certificate.”

“Okay,” Dean said slowly. “How soon can we get that done?”

Mary sat down in the armchair and put three glasses of lemonade on the coffee table.

“We can either send a letter requesting a court date, or go down there,” Sam answered.

“I think you should go. With Emma, to get sympathy points,” Mary said with a slight smile.

Dean snorted.

“Of course. Use my daughter to get what we want. How delightful.”

Sam grinned.

“Look at it as using her to get what she needs.”

The next day they went to the courthouse and their court date was three months away.

*

“Please stand for the honorable Judge Victor Henrickson.”

The judge walked quickly, commanding respect as he went. He sat.

“Please be seated.”

The clerk handed a file to Henrickson.

“This is the case of Winchester vs Orythia.”

“Thank you.”

Judge Henrickson looked out at the one man in front of him, then back at the file.

“Mr. Winchester?”

“Yes, your honor.”

“Where is the defendant?”

“I don’t know your honor,” Dean said, slightly smug.

“The case will proceed. Mr. Winchester. You say that Ms. Orythia… left a baby abandoned at your door over three months ago, not visiting the child. You want to gain full custody of the baby.”

“Yes, your honor.”

“Well, given that the defendant isn’t even here, and the situation presented, I declare Lydia Orythia an unfit parent, and Dean Winchester the sole guardian of his daughter, Emma Orythia.”

Dean nearly yelled in joy at that, but reigned himself in when he remembered where he was. He turned to his brother and mother behind him and grinned widely. He barely heard what the judge said next.

“Case dismissed.”

Dean turned around quickly to look at Sam, smile on his face. He mouthed a message that carried so much weight.

“We won!”

*

That afternoon saw Mary, Sam, Dean and Emma visiting the Roadhouse, finally giving Ellen and Jo the playdate they had been asking Mary for.

“She’s such a beautiful baby girl.”

Dean beamed and agreed with Jo and handed his daughter over to Ellen to hold.

“It’s been so long since we’ve had a baby around.”

Mary laughed. “The last baby was Jo.”

Ellen grinned and nodded.

Dean grinned and turned to his brother.

“Thanks man. This wouldn’t have happened without your Stanford brain.”

Sam rolled his eyes and punched Dean’s shoulder.

“It was for Emma, Jerk.”

Dean laughed and took a sip of his beer.

“It’s crazy man.”

There was a small silence between the brothers as the others talked around them, passing Emma around and laughing.

“Sam. Do you think she’ll turn out ok?”

Sam turned to him, brows furrowed.

“Dean, of course she’ll turn out ok. How could you think she wouldn’t? You’re gonna be a great dad, man. You basically raised me, anyways.”

Dean huffed a laugh, small smile on his face.

“Yeah you’re right. Thanks.”

Sam grinned and placed a hand on Dean’s shoulder. Dean took another swig and turned back to watch Emma, now in Ash’s arms. Dean raised his eyebrows at the scene.

“Ash don’t drop my baby, man.”

“Screw you. I know how to hold a kid.”

Dean raised his hands in surrender, laughing to himself. At least Emma had his weird ass family now.


End file.
